The pandemic has shone a spotlight on the failures of successive Tory governments

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Getty Images)

I accept that schools need to close and that we need to take extreme measures if we are to have any hope of reducing the spread of Covid-19. But I am sure I am not alone in feeling a rising sense of anger every time I hear a Tory minister or MP lamenting the disproportionate impact of school closures on children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

To take educational opportunity away from those to whom it offers a route out of poverty is indeed a withdrawal of one of the few fundamental legal rights these children have. The reason they find themselves in this dire predicament, however, is that the very party purporting to tear its hair out at being forced into taking these dire measures is the same one that has brought this wealthy country to its knees and created the inequalities over which it now cries its crocodile tears.

These policies have been introduced and overseen by successive Tory governments; the pandemic has merely served to shine a spotlight on the outcomes they have produced. It is in the discomfort of its glare that our sanctimonious ministers look, for once, like frightened rabbits desperate to escape their own creation.

I wonder if we will ever know how many billions of our money, incorrectly spoken of as government money, has been squandered on our behalf on dodgy PPE, a useless test and trace system and lucrative contracts to cronies and family members, while so many citizens of this wealthy nation have been left to rely on the kindness of strangers.

The cost of introducing a universal income, proper funding for the NHS and a social care system fit for purpose would have been tiny by comparison.

William Craig

Shrewsbury  

Degree of faith

I read in your newspaper that “the education secretary will work with Ofqual to put in place alternative arrangements” for GCSE and A Level examinations this year. Those alternative arrangements need to include provision for home-schooled students.

My daughter was one of the unlucky 18-year-olds who failed to obtain a hoped-for place at university last year due to school absences caused by serious illness, leading to modest teacher assessed grades. 2021 finds her fit as a fiddle and all set to prove herself, having studied at home with the assistance of her sixth form notes and local tutors.

It surely falls upon the education secretary to takes students with circumstances similar to my daughter’s into consideration. We have come to know several families home-schooling their 19-year-olds this year in an effort to finally sit examinations and achieve university ambitions. These young adults will not be easily assessed without examinations, as many of them fall outside the scope of recognised schools, colleges and institutions and are relying on homeschooling techniques and informal tutoring.

These young hopefuls deserve recognition and a path forward and are crying out for the opportunity to sit exams in a safe and controlled environment.

Giles Healy

Exeter

Eye sore

The Scottish MP who broke lockdown rules is being charged. Dominic Cummings got a pay rise. How odd.

Jim Alexander

Maidenhead

Generation game

Having been with The Independent since day one, I can honestly say I have never seen such a rumpus on the Letters page.

Therefore I feel it is wise – mindful of space, and attempting not to be didactic – to point out some reality over the following: national debt, state pensions, inter-generational fairness, taxation and the original letter from Anna Taylor (‘Over 55s should pay for the costs of coronavirus on society’, 2 January)

I shall commence with various words from David Cameron way back in 2010, which mislead many people at the time: “all in it together" and “our grandchildren could still be paying for this debt”. Or something very similar.

Firstly, we have had national debt (or a deficit if you like) since before King John and it is never going away. Ever. The devastation in 2008 was caused by reckless bankers and the regulators allegedly taking their eye off the ball. However, we were not all in it together – the average person paid the price. I think Anna Taylor was trying to make a point that this must not happen for Covid. I shall add Brexit also.

A handful of people have mentioned the state pension and how much tax they have paid. Essentially state pensions are a Ponzi scheme; we do not have a pot for our NI contributions; it also matters not how much other tax one pays. For example, when I was 21 my contemporaries and I were paying the pensions of citizens over 65 (note the age); now I am still paying for the people who shall retire between ages 66 to 68. This will increase, by the way, unless the people vote accordingly.

The bottom line is that we have always funded other generations; the priority is to get youngsters educated and into gainful employment to continue funding our pensions (not me yet).

It is pointless claiming youngsters have it easy – they do not. Neither do most other generations apart from the truly wealthy who, this time around, must bear the brunt of the tax increases, irrespective of age. Also our feckless politicians must bite the bullet and seriously clamp down on tax evasion – this is bigger than people think.

Do not be fooled again by vote-gathering politicians peddling austerity as a universal panacea.

Robert Boston

Kent  

Some of Anna Taylor’s comments, especially those about “how the young people have lost an important year of living” and “how millennials cannot aspire to those large family homes unless they inherit them”, have made my blood boil.

Do I presume that you think that this loss of a year of living does not apply in the same way to anyone over the age of 55? Have you not thought about how these young millennials will have many more years ahead of them when this virus is behind us, which will more than make up for this year of disruption?

Your comment regarding the large homes that “they cannot aspire to” is, in my opinion, absurd. Speaking from my own experience, I had two jobs to get on in life. I worked and saved to buy the things I needed. There was also such a thing as saving for a rainy day, something which these millennials cannot afford to do because they just have to have the latest phone or designer outfit they so selfishly desire. Eating out for a treat has become an everyday occasion for these poor millennials.

I am not against paying my share towards helping the country recover from this pandemic but I am against pointing the finger at one section of society.

Deborah Abbott

Address supplied

Slightly taken aback by this article. I’m 56, I run my own business, which has pretty much collapsed, and, despite having paid both corporation and income tax for more than 30 years, since last March I’ve received £1,050 in support, while trying to keep my business afloat (no furloughing option for sole owner/directors). I have a seven-year-old son and without a pension I’m working hard to ensure he has something to inherit.

Hope you weren’t suggesting that all 55 year olds fit the profile that you described. I know young people who were furloughed from their jobs, took up a second job and were financially better off (and hoping that furlough didn’t end).

People of all age groups have had their worlds turned upside down by this pandemic and people of all ages have been relatively unaffected. Your lens needs to be more forensic in its examination.

Tony Wright

Address supplied

The correspondence on who should pay for Covid has had one result: it has, at the very least, successfully set one generation against another.

That this is so readily achieved is an indication of how fractured our society has become, assisted by a world-class boost, liberally dispensed by our chaotic government.

Eddie Dougall

Bury St Edmunds